Nobody ever laid on their deathbed and said, “I wish I had worked more.”
Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, as they say. And we only get so many heartbeats. So, my wife and I are considering retirement. But we have no clue what that looks like. We’re both Type-A drivers who work best one notch from nervous breakdown. Not the type to just unplug and play golf.
So, last week, we set out on a cross the country road trip to sort things out.
Cruising through Iowa, we agreed to not die at our desk. In Kansas we decided it’s better to run out of money than run out of life. In New Mexico we accepted that if all else fails, we’d live in a cardboard box on a grate. By the time we got to Phoenix, we had a clear path.
Maybe we should learn from the Rolling Stones who’ve been teasing ‘this could be our final tour’ for decades. Meanwhile, they’re still filling stadiums.
But, when is it time to park the bus?
Here’s my take. Warren Buffett is a 91-year-old zillionaire. He was asked, “why don’t you retire?” To which he replied, “I’ll retire when I’m tired. And I’m not tired yet.”
And there you have it. Here’s a guy with a bottomless supply of fuck you money and he’s still got the passion.
That said, how much runway should you leave? It’s probably time to bail when getting out of bed is a slog. When you’ve lost your purpose and it’s just a paycheck. When items on your bucket list go unchecked.
I suggest taking a long drive to get some clarity. And if you find yourself in Vegas, bet your whole stack on red.
